Method of producing decorative yarns and fabrics



Patented Nov. 25, 1941 METHOD or raonucmc DECORATIVE YARNS AND memos James C. White, Kingsport, Tenn., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, corporation of New Jersey Application February 15, 19 51,

No Drawing.

Rochester, N. Y., a

Serial No. 379,115 12 Claims. (01. 57-164) This invention relates to yarn and fabric manufacture and more particularly to the manufacture of slub-like yarn and the decorative fabric into which it may be made.

Slub yarn, as known to the prior art, is characterized by numerous bunches, protrusions or other such variations in the cross section of the yarn. These variations or slubs may be spaced at equal or unequal distances along the length of the foundation yarn, and the slubs themselves may vary in length depending on the method of manufacture. Such yarn may be made into fabrics which are in part dependent for the decorative efiect on the slubs distributed throughout the surface of the fabric.

Heretofore, various methods have been devised for producing this type of yarn. It has been produced from natural fibers, either on an ordinary spinning frame, or on a twisting frame. When made on a spinning frame a periodic variation is introduced in the speed at which the roving is delivered to the rollers. This causes the formation of thick places or slubs along the yarn at more or less regular intervals. The spinning mechanism can be regulated so as to form regular or irregular length slubs at regular or irregular intervals along the yarn. Slub yarns may be made on twisting frames in which case the base or foundation threads may be fine singles and the efiect thread a thick roving or sliver. The slub is formed by speeding up a back roller to pass an excess of roving into the rollers, thus causing the formation of the thick, slub areas.

In the manufacture of synthetic yarns it has been the practice to form viscose slub yarn by depositing on the base thread at suitable intervals small predetermined quantities or accretions of viscose of pasty consistency. The resulting thread will resemble the genuine silk thread produced from uncultivated cocoons. If desired, such variations in the thickness or diameter of the yarn may be made by employing a. pump having a surging action when forcing the viscose through the spinnerettes to form filaments.

Similar variations in thickness of the filament which are subsequently made into yarn, may also be produced by drawing the filaments at varying linear speeds which imparts a periodic stretch to the filaments and consequently produces a filament having a varying thick and thin cross section.

Due to the quality of natural and synthetic staples there has been a strong tendency in the design of fabrics to mix two, three, and four types of fibers; and the resulting hand, appearance,

weight, heat transfer, and variation in dyeing give novel effects. One eifect particularly employed is that obtained by the blending of cellulose esters with viscose fibers, wool fibers, or cotton fibers. The normal type of yarn produced from mixed fibers is an intimate mixture of all the various fibers having a fairly uniform concentration. When yarns of this type are woven into fabrics they can be cross dyed two contrasting shades,'

and the resulting fabric gives the appearance of asolid color, when viewed from a distance but upon-closer examination it is readily seen that the individual fibers are dyed contrasting colors, depending on which type they are. When a small concentration of one fiber is present it lends anundertone effect that is frequently called heather. This type of fabric represents the highest uniformity obtainable on mixed fabrics with the Another object of the invention is to provide a method of producing the sl'ub yarn decorative effects in fabrics without forming a true slub on the yarn and without increasing the overall count of the yarn at any point in its length.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of producing slub yarns and fabrics by varying the count and concentration of the filament components at spaced intervals on the yarn. Still another object is toproduce both true and simulated decorative slub yarns and fabrics made in accordance with the methods described herein,

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

In accordance with one feature of the invention certain of these objects are attained by incorporating at spaced intervals in .the yarn a higher concentration of one type of filament without increasing the overall count of the yarn and cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various filament types, either in the form of yarn, or the woven fabric. This produces in the yarn and fabric the appearance of a slub at the portions having the higher concentration of the one type of filament without actually forming a true slub. on the yarn. For convenience of description this may be called a pseudo slub.

'In accordance with another feature of the invention a similar decorative effect may be obtained by incorporating at spaced intervals in the yarn a high concentration of one component of the yarn in the portion forming an actual slub as well as increasing the overall count of the yarn and then cross dyeing the yarn components, either in the form of yarn, or after it has been woven in a fabric.

In producing a mixed .fiber. yarn, assuming a 50:50 mixture of viscose and cellulose acetate it is conceivable that for an appreciable distance, anything from one half inch to two inches or three inches length, it is possible to obtain a very high concentration of one component in that particular section without increasing the overall count of the yarn i. e. as above defined a pseudo slub. It is also possible to have the same arrangement of fibers but have an increase in the yarn size or a true slub in the sense the yarn size is intermittently greater than the main body of the yarn, and, in addition, has a higher concentration of one of the components than the original mixture. By producing yarns of variable concentrations of fibers a slub effect is obtained in the finished fabric when the yarns are woven and the fabric cross dyed two different contrasting shades. If yarns were produced in which the concentration of the components varied, but the count or size was held constant, no slub effect would be obtained if in cross dyeing uniform shades were deposited on both fibers. This novel method depends on a variable concentration of fiber as well as a cross dyeing effect in contrasting shades.

Several methods may be employed in accordance with my invention for producing either the pseudo or true slub effects in fabrics. following methods are illustrated with cellulose acetate filaments and yarns it will be understood that they may be applied to several types of synthetic fibers and, with some modification, to natural fibers or mixtures of natural and synthetic fibers.

As is well known in the .art, the production of cellulose acetate fibers is chiefly dependent on the dry spinning process which includes extruding the cellulose acetate in a solution from a spinnerette having a multiplicity of holes, into a drying cabinet. In this cabinet the resultant streams of dope are evaporated of their solvent, giving a parallel bundle of dry continuous filaments issuing from the drying cabinet. For the usual staple fiber operation heretofore employed these filaments are cut, flufied, and separated from each other to give a heterogeneous mixture approaching the state in which none of the filaments lie completely parallel to each other. This is the ideal condition in which yarns can be made on available textile systems when using all acetate fiber, or mixtures with other fibers, and when it is desirable to get the maximum uniformity with respect to fiber concentration in the mixture. For the present invention an opposite procedure is followed, and instead of separating the bundle of parallel filaments after cutting them into stable fiber, the portion thatis to be formed into either the pseudo or the true slub is left in the parallel relationship.

The parallelized stable fibers in these bundles are then incorporated with other types of filament bundles which have been subjected to the fiuiling and opening treatment and which are consequently heterogeneously disposed.

My novel method may be further illustrated as follows. If it is desired to form yarn displaying my novel effects I may employ 50 parts of opened viscose staple, 35 parts of opened acetate staple While the and 15 parts of the unopened acetate staple. If these staple fibers are processed on the usual cotton systems the resultant yarns tend to have varying concentrations of acetate fibers in them. By carefully controlling the addition of the unopened acetate staple bundles to the other staple fibers, a high concentration of cellulose acetate fibers at spaced intervals can be made in the resulting yarn without increasing the overall count of the yarn, or by less carefully controlling the addition of the bundles of unopened cellulose acetate staple a high concentration of cellulose acetate fibers at spaced intervals can be introduced, resulting in yam with an increase in the overall count of the yarn at those spaced intervals, that is, in the production of true slubs.

colors the desired slub effect is created.

The mixing of the unopened material can be carried out in the staple fiber operation or just previous to the formation of the laps in the customers plant on the finisher picker or the filament bundles can be uniformly distributed on the lap as it proceeds into the cards.

While the above treatment is effective in preparing the varying concentrations of fiber, these unopened filament bundles may be treated with a tacky oil prior to their distribution in the filament mixture which represents the main body of the total fiber. This tacky oil .welds the filament bundles together and therefore inhibits the opening action of the carding, drawing, and spinning operations and permits the filament bundles to retain their parallelized state through to the finished yarn.

In accordance with another method of forming slub effects in the yarn I may employ twisted yarn instead of the unopened staple bundles. If three or four turn yarn is cut to one and one-half inches in length, the usual cotton system length, the twisted yarn will not open up under the usual opening carding, drawing and spinning operations. By incorporating this cut yarn intermittently with other types of opened staple in a yarn-forming process the resulting yarn has the desired slub effect which may be accentuated by cross dyeing. By careful control of the addition of the unopened staple bundles the overall count of the yarn may be maintained within desired limits.

By employing these novel methods a novel decorative yarn may be produced and the fabrics made from them will have the appearance of homespun linen or hopsacking.

I claim:

1. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of various types of filament a higher concentration of one type of filament and producing a slub-like decorative effect at the places of higher filament concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various filament types.

2. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of various types of staple fiber compositions a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber and producing a slub-like decorative effect at the places of higher filament concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various fiber types.

3. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics, which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn When theseyarns are cross dyed with contrasting shades or made of various types of staple fiber compositions a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber, without substantially increasing the overall fiber count of the yarn and producing a slub-like dec- Y in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of various types of staple fiber compositions a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber, whereby the overall fiber count of the yarn is increased at said intervals, and producing a slublike decorative efiect at said places of higher filament concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various fiber types.

5. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of various types of staple fiber compositions a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber in parallel relationship, and producing a slublilie decorative efiect'at said places of higher filament concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various fiber types.

6. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in e a yarn made of various types of staple fiber compositions a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber in the form of a twisted bundle, and producing a slub-like decorative effect at said places of high filament concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various fiber types.

7. The method of producing decorative effects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of diflerent types of synthetic fiber a higher concentration of one type of staple fiber in par allel relationship, and producing a slub-like decorative effect at said places of higher filament I concentration by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the various fiber types.

8. The method of producing decorative efiects in yarns and fabrics which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a lap of opened staple fibers of various compositions a bundle of unopened staple fiber, forming the lap into yarn, and producing a slub-like decorative effect at the places where the unopened staple fiber is associated with the yarn by cross dyeing in contrasting shades the unopened and opened fibers.

9. The method of producing a slub-like yarn which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of a plurality of types of fibers a higher concentration of one type of fiber than of the remaining fiber material.

10. The method of producing a slub-like yarn which comprises incorporating at randomly spaced intervals in a yarn made of various types of heterogeneously disposed filaments a higher concentration ofone type of filament disposed in substantially parallel relation without increasing the overall filament count of the yarn.

11. A yarn comprising'various types of heterogeneously disposed staple fibers having at randomly spaced intervals a high concentration of one type of staple fiber disposed in the yarn in a substantially parallel relation, the overall fiber count of the yarn being substantially constant throughout the yarn length.

12. A fabric containing yarn comprising different types of heterogeneously disposed staple fibers having at randomly spaced intervals a high concentration of one type of staple fiber disposed in the yarn in a substantially parallel relation, the overall fiber count ofthe yarn being substantially constant throughout the length of the yarn.

JAMES C. WHITE. 

